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Health Care System in Alaska
Alaska is one-fifth the size of the Lower 48 states. More than twice as large as Texas, Alaska is bigger than the next three largest states in the U.S. combined.
Alaska’s urban areas are connected by rail and road system, but much of Alaska relies on air, water, and snow machine or “4-wheeler” to get supplies and services from hub communities. Large distances, high mountains, large rivers, severe weather patterns all combine to make transportation a challenge.
Alaska’s population is close to 700,000 with nearly half the residents living in or near Anchorage. Another unique attribute of Alaska is that the majority of the rural population is Alaska Native. Alaska has 229 of the 558 federally recognized tribes. Most of these tribes live in rural villages which are only accessible by plane or boat on fair weather days.
The Alaska Native Health Care system is composed of village clinics staffed by Community Health Aides. Referrals are then made to health centers in the regional hub communities which are staffed by physician assistants and nurse practitioners. The next level of care is the health centers staffed by medical doctors. Hospitals provide advance treatments.
Source: Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium
The large distances and difficult transportation mean that access to a doctor may not be possible for days at a time. The care given by local community health aides, physician assistants and nurse practitioners is essential to the health of Alaskan communities.
For more detailed information about the health care system in Alaska and how it has evolved, read the following article by Denny DeGross: History of Health Care In Alaska.
This page was last updated by Janice Troyer on February 04, 2010